PACETAH

2006-2007 Conferences

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1. on February 12, 2007 at 3:32 pm Rachel Huseman Said:
   

   I was able to attend the LRE, or Law-Related Education, conference, sponsored by the Texas Bar Association. This was my second conference I’ve attended that was put on by the LRE, and it was wonderful. It was certainly worth my time!

   One of the highlights of the weekend for me was getting to hear Doug Jones speak. He was a prosecutor for the 16th Street Baptist Church bombings. I thought that he was informative and knowledgeable.

   The breakout sessions were also enjoyable; each presenter had lots of ideas for presenting materials to students in fun and exciting ways.

   It was nice to get to spend some time with other PACETAH grant members. As a “newbie” to the grant, I don’t know everyone very well yet, and it was good to get to know people better.

2. on February 12, 2007 at 7:44 pm Rebecca Said:
   

   Back in January I attended the Texas History Conference in Huntsville. A small group of fifteen Texas teachers took a day-excursion to the birthplace of Texas – Washington on the Brazos. While there, we toured the beautiful grounds, Independence Hall and the Star of Texas Museum. The curators were nice enough to take us behind the scenes where we were able to look at artifacts in storage. I was very excited to see an original Sam Houston signature. After touring the museum we went to a living 19th century farm, The Barrington Farm. I took many photographs that I have shown to my classes. The photos explain a lot about life in the 1800’s. Anson Jones’ (the last president of the Republic of Texas ) house had been moved onto this farm so we were able to tour that also.

   Back at the service center in Huntsville we were treated to a visit from Sam Houston and Stephen F Austin via a re-enactor who delivered an excellent presentation. The other workshops were very beneficial… I have never found the quality of information about Texas at any other conference.

   My latest informational conference was in Austin. It was presented by the State Bar’s Law Related Education. As always everything was first class. Our opening session speaker was the attorney (Doug Jones) who tried and secured guilty verdicts for 2 men involved in the Alabama 16th Street Church bombing.

   I obtained several ready-to-use lessons on Political Parties and a lesson booklet that teaches law to students of all ages. The author of Words We Live By , Ms. Monk, delivered the key note address Saturday. She entertained us with an informative speech about early documents and their effects on the U S Constitution. Everyone at the conference received one of her books.

3. on February 13, 2007 at 2:43 pm Jim Bob Hulsey Said:
   

   This was my second year to attend the Texas History Conference. This year was just as exciting as the last.
   The first day we went on a tour of Washington-on –the-Brazos. I thought the star of the Republican Museum was cool. The artifacts were very interesting, make a teacher wish it was near enough to take his class. They have curriculums for different classes of different ages. The tour also took us to the Barrington Farm. The place is amazing; it is a living farm. They actually work there and maintain it year round.
   The conference was also very good. I had heard Dr. Crimm speak last year; she is very good.
   We also visited Sam Houston Museum – very interesting. We went to Sam Houston’s tombstone again this year. While we were in Huntsville we visited the Prison Museum, which was a lot of fun. I took pictures of the museum and shared them with my class.
   While at the conference I bought a couple of DVD’s. One of the DVD’s was over the Civil Rights Movement; it’s very good, and my students liked it. I enjoyed the conference and the people from the grant that went with me.

4. on February 15, 2007 at 2:35 pm Heather Said:
   

   This is a test response.

5. on February 15, 2007 at 9:14 pm Wink Clark Said:
   

   I attended the Texas History Teachers’ Conference at Huntsville along with Jim Bob and Rebecca. What a treat to be much closer to where the drive for Texas independence actually began.

   On our way to visit Washington on the Brazos, where the Texas Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written, we stopped in the middle of the street at Navasota to take pictures of the statue of Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle who was murdered by his own men somewhere near Navasota. Washington on the Brazos was so interesting. The last (and only other time) I had been there was on my family’s Texas Sesquicentennial trip in 1986.

   The museum is quite interesting. It holds a lot of very interesting artifacts including items from the Belle (La Salle’s ship), Billy Dixon’s (Second Battle of Adobe Walls) six shooter, an actual letter from Sam Houston, and many other things important to early Texas history.

   Then we went over to the Barrington farm. They had slave quarters, a barn, Anson Jones’ (the last president of the Republic of Texas) home and some of the livestock which early colonists raised. The people were dressed in the style of Texas right around our independence and gave us a lot of information on how people lived at the time. Rebecca even got to wield a scythe. The grim reaper had best watch out! The man hooked up the John Deere tractor of the time, a couple of oxen, and showed us how they worked.

   We walked over to a replica of the building were the Declaration and Constitution were written and read all the historical markers. Us being so high and dry (that is until we could get to a convenience store) it was interesting to see the Brazos River which is right there at Washington on the Brazos.

   I only got to attend the first day of the actual conference, but it was most educational. Dr. Crimm gave a really good lecture on some of the early Hispanic families that helped settle Texas. Stephen F. Austin showed up and told about his life. What I didn’t know was that the term the “father of Texas” came from none other than Sam Houston himself as he gave the eulogy at Austin’s funeral. After lunch I listened to a couple of War of Yankee Agression reenactors who described what it was like to have been in the war. They had replica muskets, uniforms, and all the equipment and were most informative. They also gave a live demonstration musket fire. The last thing I saw that day was a lecture on La Bahia at Goliad and all the stuff that had happened there.

   As we were listening to Stephen F. Austin’s talk, I turned to Rebecca and said I would love to do something like that. She said who would you like to be, and I said, Charles Goodnight. About that time the actor said he portrayed Travis and Goodnight in addtion to Austin. There went my acting career. He will be in Claude in June at the theatre there to portray Charles Goodnight.

   We visited Houston’s grave at Oakhill Cemetery and read some area historical markers as we traveled about the countryside. Grime County provided several companies of both cavalry and infantry to the Confederacy.

   The grant has given me an opportunity to get to know a lot of great history teachers in the Panhandle and see a lot of sights I probably would never have gotten to see. It was particulary meaningful to visit Jamestown last summer since this will be the 400th anniversary of its founding this April.

6. on February 19, 2007 at 12:31 pm Sara Hamm Said:
   

   I was priviledged once again to attend the Law-Related Education Conference in Austin, Texas, from Febraury 9-11, 2007. Listening to the keynote speaker, Doug Jones, from Birmingham, Alabama, was worth the entire trip. He was the leading prosecuting attorney in the Birmingham, Alabama, 16th Street Baptist Church bombing case and gave an outstanding presentation of his role in the trial. He had everyone rivited to their chairs, their eyes “glued” to the screen, and ready to go fight discrimination. I also went to three other sessions, “OYEZ, OYEZ, OYEZ”,”It’s My Party…High School”, and “Just a Little Change Now and Then”. They were all put on by the LRE staff and were very well done. There were hand-outs given to each participant and modeling of several lesson plans that were usable in the classroom.
   This is just another example of money well-spent for the furtherance of American History teacher professional development.

7. on February 22, 2007 at 3:15 pm Staci Unger Said:
   

   I attended the State Bar of Texas LRE Conference in Austin on February 9th and 10th. Five grant participants attended the conference with me and we had a wonderful time! We started with our key note speaker, Doug Jones, who received national attention as a United States Attorney in January, 1998, when a bomb exploded at a women’s health clinic in Birmingham, killing a police offiver and seriously wounding a nurse. In 2001, Mr. Jones was the lead trial attorney for the prosecution in the case of The State of Alabama vs. Tommy Blanton, which a member of the KKK was convicted for the murders of four African-American girls who died as a result of the bombing. He was an amazing speaker, and this was the highlight of the trip for me. He had the whole room holding back tears as he told the story of those four little girls and the people that took the witness stand for them so many years later….justice delayed wasn’t justice denied in this case.
   I also attended sessions covering the most recent Supreme Court Cases, Worldly Websites and constitutional scholary Linda Monk spoke about her new book The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution, Ordinary Americans: U.S. History Through the Eyes of Everyday People. She lives on the Mount Vernon Estate and told some funny stories about living there and writing her book. She also spoke about the upcoming 400th anniversary of the founding of Virginia in 1607. Alan is even planning on attending this celebration! What a lucky guy…
   We also went to San Marcos to the outlet mall on a quick shopping spree in the evening. We packed our car full of goodies we couldn’t find in the good ‘ol Panhandle!
   It was a quick trip, but we learned a lot. LRE always puts on a great institute.

8. on March 9, 2007 at 11:52 am Debbie Edmondson Said:
   

   In November I was one of the lucky ones to attend NCSS in Washington, D.C. This was my second NCSS and I really enjoyed it. They have great exhibits with excellent goodies. I attended some great sessions. One of the best was put on by the Treasury Department. Participants were given the newest nickel in the nickel series. If you have all five of the commemorative nickels, you have the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Another interesting session had to do with analyzing past presidents. My preconvention session was a tour of three embassies: Canada, South Africa, and Bosnia-Herzegovinia. Each was interesting, but the South African embassy probably had to best information.

   After our meetings, we saw as much as possible of D.C. My first visit last summer was so quick I missed a lot of things and the 100-year flood kept us out of the National Archives. So this time I finally went to the archives and felt like I was in Disneyland–I know that sounds corny, but so be it. We just about mastered the D.C. subway system. We had a long visit at Arlington Cemetery and watched the changing of the guard. We attempted to see the national Christmas tree, but we were looking in the wrong place and a week early. We squeezed in the Holocaust Museum and it was unforgettable! We had warm sunny weather while the Panhandle was covered with ice and snow. But our last night was cold during our tour of the monuments.
   One of the best parts of the grant is the travel and getting to know each other a little better. It’s a lot easier to relax with each other when we’re across the country. It was a great trip–except for several of us nearly getting bumped from the flight from Dallas to Amarillo!!

9. on March 9, 2007 at 3:23 pm Alan Cox Said:
   

   I was able to attend the LRE convention in Austin. Lre does a great job of putting on a conference. They incorporate content knowledge with teaching strategies that are actually useful in the classroom. The highlight of the conference,for me, was the presentation by Doug Jones. You could have heard a pin drop during his presentation of the trial of the bombers of the 16th Street Baptist Church. It was great!!!

10. on April 14, 2007 at 7:42 pm qch teens csa Said:
    

    Sure come upstairs to my room
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